


Assumptions and a long night

by RainbowPlane



Category: Persona 5
Genre: But also right, Camping, Camping trip gone wrong, Cuddling, Fluff, Getting Together, Hinting to MakoAnn, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pining, Traumatic Experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 09:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15638019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowPlane/pseuds/RainbowPlane
Summary: The group decided to go on a camping trip together in the mountains, but it isn't all going as planned.Akira appears to be together with Makoto a lot, which in turn hurts Ryuji.Rumours spreading, but Ryuji wouldn't dare to ask for the truth, what if it's true?But one night the weather decided to act up, and not everyone seems to be comfortable with the situation.





	Assumptions and a long night

**Author's Note:**

> Another one of my 'Just reflecting myself upon fictional characters' fics.
> 
> I'll give a trigger warning for panic attacks here, and for extreme weather if people don't like that.
> 
> But as it turns out, this actually is a rather happy fic compared to all my others, so enjoy!

_‘’Let’s all go camping together!!’’_

Those words, spoken by Haru, were the reason the whole group of Phantom thieves were now walking around in unknown places, backpacks on their backs.

After everyone was excited they began planning immediately. Even though some were hesitant, the end result was a complete backpacking trip to the more mountainy areas of Japan. They made sure they stayed close to civilisation and to not move around too much.

They did end up at this beautiful lake.

As Akira stared at the beautiful sight, he had taken his distance from the group after they had settled down for the night, he heard someone walking in his direction.

The person was none other than Makoto. ‘’Hey, if you don’t mind I have something I want to talk about with you.’’ She said as she stood next to him.

‘’Of course.’’ Akira reacted, already gesturing to her to come sit.  He didn’t know what she wanted to say, but there was a sense of urgency in her voice. It was something she really wanted to let out.

 

At a considerable distance the rest of the group was preparing for dinner. They all noticed the two of them talking, but one in particular was quite bothered by it.

‘’What do you think the two of them are doing?’’ Ryuji asked as he looked in the direction of the two, sitting by the lake.

Ann just put a small box filled with food down. ‘’Well, what does it look like? They’re clearly just talking.’’ She said to him.

‘’Maybe it’s a confession!’’ Futaba exclaimed. She had sensed a bit of jealousy into Ryuji’s voice, which allowed the perfect opportunity to tease the blonde boy.

Haru chuckled softly. ‘’I don’t think either would do so right here, with people close by.’’ She then reacted to the conversation before she moved on preparing the food.

Yusuke had been quietly listening in on the conversation, but decided to put some extra fuel on the fire, although he had no idea it was burning. ‘’I can imagine the beautiful scenery stirs up those types of feelings though, so I wouldn’t call it completely impossible.’’

‘’Just focus on the food you guys! I am hungry!’’ Morgana butted in. He didn’t care about the subject at all, he only cared about the fact that it was already getting late and they hadn’t eaten yet.

More soft laughter was being heard from Haru. ‘’We have no way in knowing the truth anyways, let’s get this food going.’’ She then said.

Soon everyone dropped the subject, both as they had no way of knowing and as they all turned out to be quite hungry.

 

Not that long after the both of them came back to the group. ‘’I didn’t know you guys were already preparing dinner, now I feel bad for not helping out.’’ Akira said as he saw the already fully prepared food.

‘’No need to feel bad, we were all just really hungry.’’ Ann said.

‘’You guys are going to clean the dished though!’’ Futaba was still way to excited, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before she would collapse from a lack of energy soon.

Makoto smiled. ‘’That seems fair.’’ She said.

 

In the end no one figured out what happened between the two, but everyone did notice a change in their behaviour.

They were closer, a lot closer.

The following few days more and more rumours began to form between the others. The two had been spending more time by the lake, they had been taking small ‘exploring’ trips together and they behaved in a different way than before in general.

Ryuji had tried to observe them, but it just wasn’t clear whether they truly were together. All signs were there, everything except for the one confirming it all.

A change of behaviour was then also seen in him, only not for the better. He was clearly irritated by the fact that his best friend was hanging out with someone else all the time, everyone could see that, but not many could see the real reason. Only those who had known before did.

 

‘’Listen, if you want to make sure you can always ask them.’’ Ann said as she sneaked up on Ryuji, who was trying to follow the couple again.

The unexpected sound startled Ryuji. He jumped up, but managed to not make a sound. ‘’Don’t do that!’’ He yelled, but in a soft manner. ‘’And no, I can’t just ask them.’’ He then reacted.

Ann sighed slightly. ‘’You know you still have a chance they aren’t together, right?’’ She asked. ‘’Or is that the problem? Right now you have a chance, but as soon as they confirm your fears you don’t have one anymore.’’

Ryuji had no intention to fight, to defend himself, since he knew it wouldn’t have any effect. Ann was the only one who knew. ‘’I… I don’t know.’’ He managed to say. ‘’But I do know I won’t be able to ask. The guy most likely doesn’t even like me the same anyways. I should just give up and move on.’’

‘’But you can’t.’’ Ann added. She saw the pained look in Ryuji’s eyes as he had spoken and she knew just how he felt. ‘’You do know it’s the same for me, right?’’ She then added. Just like she knew Ryuji’s secret, he also knew her’s.

Realisation hit Ryuji. ‘’I totally forgot, sorry.’’ His head lowered after saying that. Now he felt even more pathetic than he did before. He liked Akira, but Ann had a thing for Makoto too. Ann was indeed going through the same thing as him, he just didn’t think about that aspect yet.

‘’No problem.’’ Ann smiled softly. ‘’But just so you know, I am going to ask Akira about it soon. Unlike you I just can’t live without knowing the truth any longer.’’ She then added.

This scared Ryuji, the answer would be coming out whether he wanted or not. ‘’Go ahead, it’s your choice.’’ He said, trying to sound a little indifferent.

‘’I take it you don’t want to hear the answer when I get it then? Fine.’’ She then said. ‘’You can always come to me if you want to know though.’’ Were the last words she spoke before turning around to walk back to the others.

Now Ryuji was alone again. He had lost track of the duo, so there truly was no one around.

He began to think all what happened over again. Did he really not want to know the answer just because it was possible all his hopes would be smashed? Was it really worth it living with this insecurity just to protect his dreams?

There was no way Ryuji was able to answer any of those questions that day, but he did realise he had been out there for a long while already. Soon he made his way back to everyone else. Makoto was apparently back already, as she was happily talking with the group.

Akira and Ann were missing. Ann did truly make her move fast.

As the two returned, they apparently went out to get some more water, Ryuji tried his best to read Ann’s face, hoping to find an answer. But as soon as she noticed she winked at the boy, fuelling him with a slight rage immediately.

The day progressed as normal, and soon the night fell.

 

During the night the wind began to increase, increasing a lot. They had set up two tents at camp, one for the girls and another filled with guys. The girl’s tent was the one which caught the most wind.

None of them realised though, since they were all vast asleep.

Only after a loud bang was heard the voices of some of the girls sounded.

_‘’Wh-what the hell?!’’_

_‘’Oh my god, I didn’t think this could actually happen!’’_

_‘’Is everyone here awake? Futaba??’’_

_‘’Huh, wh… WHAT?!’’_

_‘’Can someone go and wake the guys? We need to get out of here!’’_

_‘’The actual pole broke in half? Awesome!’’_

_‘’We can laugh about it later, firstly we need to get to a safer place.’’_

_‘’Alright, I’ll go and get the guys.’’_

This was the conversation that could be heard. Only two of the boy’s tent were awake at that moment.

One was Ryuji, who had just woken up as the girls were talking.

The other being no other than Akira. Akira had been awake for the entire night, the sound of the intense winds worrying him.

Now that something actually had happened had frightened him, a lot.

He was unable to think, unable to move. For some reason the only thing he could do was panic. He had gone through so much, so much worse, but for some reason this is the thing that terrified him.

Akira was visibly shaking, fast short breaths being heard. At first Ryuji had no idea, but soon he realised Akira was actually having a panic attack.

Ryuji had gone through those before, he didn’t have the best past after all, but he never thought he would see their leader having one as well.

There was no real way to calm him, Ryuji knew, so the only thing he did was scoot over, making sure their legs were touching, and whispering softly. ‘’It’s alright, we’re all here.’’

It seemed to have a little effect, until the next burst of wind caught their tent. Akira flinched and curled up into a small ball.

‘’Hey, easy. There is nothing that will harm you.’’ Ryuji continued to whisper as he placed his hand on the other’s shoulder. ‘’I won’t let that happen after all.’’

Before anything else could happen the zipper of the tent was ripped open. ‘’Guys, wake up! We have an emergency!’’ It was Ann who came bursting in.

Yusuke and Morgana now both waked up as well. ‘’Can someone wake Akira too? We need to move right now!’’ Ann said after she saw him still laying down.

Ryuji was quick to speak up. ‘’He’s awake, let him be for a bit.’’ He said. There was an urgent look into Ryuji’s eyes, which made Ann realise something was up, something she shouldn’t question.

‘’Alright. Our tent-pole broke due to the heavy winds. We will need to find a new place for this tent, which we will need to share all together, since otherwise changes are we will lose this one too.’’ Ann explained. ‘’We first need to clear out the broken tent and move all the stuff somewhere save. After we really need to look for a better place nearby.’’

Makoto joined Ann. ‘’Can someone come and help us move? The rest of you should stay here to make sure this one doesn’t break in the meantime.’’ She asked.

‘’I’ll go!’’ Ryuji was the first to get up. He then focussed his attention on the other guys. ‘’Yusuke, can you come stand here to hold the pole? It should prevent it from breaking faster.’’

Yusuke was quick to agree, the girls already moving back to their own tent to get things done.

As Ryuji walked out to join them, he turned around. ‘’Oh and Morgana, keep an eye on Akira for me!’’ He yelled right before he stormed out, into the extreme winds.

 

After they finished moving the stuff the girls, and Ryuji, returned to the one still standing tent. Makoto took over Yusuke, who was still holding the middle pole, as they discussed what they should do next.

‘’The winds are too extreme out in the open, we should at least move to the side.’’ Ann said as she sat down.

Haru shook her head slightly. ‘’The wind is coming from the lake though, even the sides would still have the same amount reaching it, right?’’

‘’Should we send some people out to look for a better location? It can’t be too far away though.’’ Ryuji asked.

Makoto was quick to agree. ‘’That does appear to be our only option. If someone can take over my position I can go.’’ She said. Soon Ann was the one to stand up to take the pole from her hands.

‘’I’ll go too! Being small means I won’t get blown away too easily after all!’’ Morgana jumped up, he actually appeared to be slightly excited.

Yusuke looked around. ‘’I don’t think more of us need to go out, right? We still need some people here to look over the tent. And I see some have fallen asleep again.’’ He said. Futaba had collapsed down onto Yusuke’s bed, she indeed ended up being too tired after running around in excitement for days.

Akira was still in his curled up state, his shaking seemed to have lessened at least.

Morgana and Makoto soon left. Ann, Yusuke and Haru drifting off in a conversation about what had happened, Yusuke was quite interested in all the details after all.

Ryuji took this moment to return to Akira, laying down next to him again, knees touching. ‘’Hey.’’ He whispered softly again. ‘’Sorry I had to leave you, the girls needed some help.’’

The soft voice made Akira look up slightly, fear was written all over his face. But he still managed to smile a little. ‘’Thank y-‘’

A new heavy burst of wind hit against the tent, sending Akira back into his curled up state. He did move to Ryuji slightly, who in turn pulled Akira in, making sure Akira noticed he was close by. ‘’It’s okay, I’m still here.’’ He whispered again softly.

They remained like that for a while, Ryuji rubbing circles across the other’s back as Akira’s breathing began to stabilize a bit again. Ann looked over to the two, only for a moment, and smiled. She knew the answer to the most asked question of their trip after all.

 

It didn’t take that long before Morgana and Makoto returned. They had found a new, saver, place fairly close. Now they only needed to move all the boy’s their stuff and move the tent.

Akira was now closer to normal, although he was still way quieter than usual, he at least managed to function normally as they moved.

It took a while to move, but eventually they all found themselves in the one surviving tent at their new location.

They had agreed to leave all their stuff outside in between the trees, covered up by the sail of the broken tent. This was so that there was at least enough room for all to fit, although they all still ended up being real close together.

Ryuji made sure to secure a place next to Akira again. He tried to convince himself that it was purely to make sure Akira was okay, but somewhere in his mind he knew he was taken advantage of the situation. This was like the only real way for him to get close to Akira without any suspicion. It wasn’t his actual intention, but the thought of him holding Akira did motivate him even more if he was honest.

No one had the energy to talk for another moment, everyone falling asleep slowly.

Ryuji thought Akira was asleep already, his body only being curled up slightly, looking a lot more peaceful than earlier that night. But that same body appeared to get closer, and closer.

At first Ryuji thought he was just imaging things, but as soon as he felt his knees getting warm he noticed the one beside him was now really close.

Then Ryuji decided to look up at the face that was now extremely close-by. And dark eyes stared straight back at him. The eyes still filled with fear, but not as much as before. ‘’I’m sorry.’’ Akira whispered.

Akira then tried to move back a bit again, but Ryuji was quick to grab the other’s shoulder once again. ‘’Don’t be. I told you I was here for you, right? If you need someone close to you right now I’m glad to be that person.’’ Ryuji reacted, in the same whispering voice he had used earlier that night. ‘And of course I want you close as well.’ He then thought to himself.

Akira nodded, right after he moved himself again, this time making sure to be as close to Ryuji as he possibly could. The wind was a lot quieter around here, but every sound still scared Akira. He didn’t know why, he had never been afraid of any kind of weather before, but he did know being close to Ryuji helped him calm down. He was now close enough to hear Ryuji’s heartbeat. There was something calming about that soft, constant sound. And as Ryuji also put his arms around him Akira felt as if nothing could hurt him, he finally felt enough at peace to sleep. And so he did.

 

The following morning the weather had finally calmed down completely. Ryuji woke up feeling some sort of warmth next to him, as soon as he realised the origin of the warmth he began to remember. Opening his eyes revealed a soft ball of hair clinging to his chest.

Then there was a sad realisation, they couldn’t stay like this forever. If they did they would get weird looks from everyone, and there still was the Makoto-rumour to worry about.

Softly Ryuji did his best to turn Akira over, hoping he wouldn’t wake up the fluffy ball in the progress. He did succeed, but as soon as Ryuji himself turned around he felt the warm presence yet again, this time against his back.

There was no use fighting it, Ryuji didn’t even want to. He turned around again, only he didn’t expect to meet those stunning dark eyes as he did.

A soft smile formed on Akira’s face, his eyes no longer filled with fear, they were happy. ‘’Hey.’’ Akira whispered softly. ‘’Thank you for being there for me last night.’’

Ryuji felt his cheeks warm up, Akira was still staying close even as he was no longer scared. It took Ryuji a good while to reply as he was genuinely confused by the current situation. ‘’Of course, you are also always there to help everyone. It only seemed fair to return the favour.’’ He whispered back.

But as soon as Ryuji said that there was a change in Akira’s expression. ‘’Fair… Returning favour.’’ Akira was now whispering to himself, seemingly actually disappointed. ‘’’Sorry for having been such a bother, I didn’t even know what was wrong with me.’’ He then said to Ryuji, right after he was the one to turn around.

Ryuji didn’t understand. Had he said something wrong? The sad expression in Akira’s eyes did stab him right into his heart, there must’ve been something Ryuji did wrong. He felt the urge to fix this, although he had no idea how. Slowly he moved closer to the body in front of him and laid his arm around again. ‘’I don’t know exactly what I did wrong this time, but please don’t be sad.’’ Ryuji whispered, his eyes actually tearing up slightly. ‘’You were not a bother at all. If I have to be entirely honest I did secretly enjoy this, being close to you like this I mean.’’

There was a slight fear that hit Ryuji as soon as he finished his sentence, his confession. He had no idea how the guy would react, and there still was the possibility he was actually together with Makoto too. But every fear disappeared as soon as Akira tried to turn around, looking right into his eyes, and spoke again. ‘’I’m glad. When I’m not scared I actually enjoy this too.’’

Those were all the words Ryuji needed. He pulled the boy in front of him closer, to return in their original position Ryuji woke up with. Akira took the chance to nuzzle into Ryuji’s chest again, his arm now also around the other’s body.

Ryuji didn’t care again if anyone saw them, this turned out to be what the both of them wanted. He had never been so happy in his entire life.

 

The trip was cut short as they had lost one of their tents. Everyone worked together to pack everything and move back to civilisation. Luckily they stayed rather close to the nearby town, making it possible for them to return to Tokyo the same day.

As everyone had taken a seat in the bus that would take them to the city straight away it turned out everyone was still rather tired. Within the first fifteen minutes of the ride at least half of them were vast asleep yet again.

Ann turned around to face Ryuji, who was one seat behind her. ‘’I don’t think I have every given you the answer.’’ She said.

Ryuji in turn shook his head a bit. ‘’No, you indeed didn’t. I’m still surprised you dared to ask though.’’ He reacted. He could’ve never done that, stepping up to someone to ask such a question.

‘’Do you want to know it?’’ Ann then asked. She had seen how close Akira and Ryuji had gotten within the last moments, but she knew Ryuji had never asked for an answer, he should be quite anxious.

It was then that Ryuji looked away to watch the black ball of fluff on his shoulder, sleeping peacefully. ‘’No need.’’ He said softly, his eyes glistering with happiness, a soft smile on his face. ‘’I think I already know.’’

Ann didn’t need to hear anything else, she knew. She turned back around to look at the sleeping Makoto next to her, and as if she knew her head fell down on Ann’s shoulder too. They too stayed like that for a long while.

Ryuji was now softly stroking Akira’s hair, now finally at peace. He had found the answer. He had found everything he needed to know.

He placed a soft kiss on top of Akira’s head. ‘’I love you so much dude.’’ He whispered softly, thinking he wouldn’t even be heard by anyone.

But the black ball of fluff moved slightly, whispering a reply. ‘’I love you too, Ryuji.’’

**Author's Note:**

> See, an actual happy ending for a change!
> 
> Also, if I have to be honest, I only have written this fic to cope with my own trauma a little... I personally now get scared every time the wind decides to be extreme, and last night and today appeared to be bad moments.
> 
> Sorry for doing this again, but I at least hope you guys enjoyed this fic!  
> I have never done such a happy ending before, whoa.


End file.
